Secrets Revealed
by dracostra
Summary: Hermione reads a story in the Daily Prophet... can it be true?
1. Disbelief

-1Hermione could scarcely believe her eyes.  
"Harry likes me?" she wondered.  
It couldn't be; but where had that dreadful Skeeter woman gotten that idea? She read the article again:

HARRY POTTER'S  
SECRET HEARTTHROB  
The indomitable Harry  
Potter has once again surprised  
Readers nationwide by revealing  
The identity of the one true love  
Of his life; in an interview with  
The lovely Rita Skeeter,  
Mr Potter spoke freely.  
"I've always thought Hermione  
Was beautiful." he said. "That  
Gorgeous brown hair of hers  
Is absolutely breathtaking. And  
She's so smart! She's had my  
Heart from day one. The first  
Day I saw her on the train to  
Hogwarts, I knew she was the  
Girl for me."

Hermione was in awe. Of course Rita was lying, she had to be. Didn't she? Hermione shrugged it off.  
"At least if she is lying, I can put her back in a jar for a while." Hermione thought with a smile, remembering fourth year and giggling to herself.

"What's so funny?"

Hermione jumped; Harry had materialized right next to her, and she hadn't even noticed. How long had he been there? She didn't know.

"Uh, uh, n-nothing. Just remembering something I heard in the girls' restroom earlier. See ya Harry." she stammered.

Harry was puzzled. He'd never seen her act so strange.

"She's probably just nervous about exams." he thought. All of a sudden, he noticed a piece of paper lying on the floor. When he picked it up, he was shocked by what he read. "Oh no." he thought.

He wanted to go find Hermione and explain things to her, but he knew that she was probably in Ancient Runes by now. So, instead of chasing after her, he decided to go for a walk out on the grounds. He trudged through the freshly fallen snow, and felt the gentle brush of each snowflake against his face. He didn't know what to tell her.

"If I tell her it's not true, I'd be a liar. Just about every word is true. I just never told any of it to Rita Skeeter."

When lunch was over, Harry returned to the castle and made his way to the dungeons for potions. He remembered all to well the terrible class times he'd spent down here with Severus Snape, and it took everything in his power to keep from blowing something up. He would never forgive Severus Snape for what he'd done to Professor Dumbledore. Every time he looked out a window and caught sight of the white tomb, he vowed that he would get revenge.

When he entered the room, there she was, standing next to her cauldron, waiting for him, looking stunning as usual. But to his utter horror, Ron was standing right next to her. Ron and Hermione had experienced a falling out the previous summer. They had once been very much in love, but Hermione had grown tired of Ron's childish demeanor, and Ron had grown tired of Hermione's perfectionism.

Harry walked quietly to his cauldron, and tried the best he could to keep his eyes off of her. He swore to himself that he would not say anything to her in front of Ron. Falling out or not, Hermione had still been Ron's girl first, and he refused to hurt his best friend. As Slughorn pranced around up front giving out instructions, Harry observed Hermione out of the corner of his eye. He was shocked to discover that she was doing the same thing. When both had realized that they were being watched, their eyes shifted immediately back to their cauldrons. They spent the rest of the class in utter silence, and not even Ron said a word.

When the class was over, Harry hurriedly shoved his things in his bag and rushed out of the room. When he got to the entrance hall, he stopped next to the grand staircase and waited. When Hermione emerged from the dungeons, he stopped her.

"Hermione, I need to talk to you." he said.

Hermione flushed. "I-I can't talk now Harry, I have a class to get to."

"Hermione," Harry replied, "I read the article Rita wrote. Please let me explain."

If possible, Hermione's face grew even redder.

"It's ok Harry, you don't have to, I understand." Hermione interjected. "I know none of it's true. Rita's just a big fat liar. I promise I'll find her and punish her for it." she kept her head low and turned to climb the stairs. Before her foot even touched the third step, Harry's voice stopped her.

"You're wrong, Hermione." he said.

She froze in place. Very slowly, Hermione turned and looked Harry square in the eye

"What?" she whispered.

"Hermione," Harry paused, "I love you."


	2. Realization

-1Chapter 2: Realization

Hermione was floored

She stood motionless at the foot of the grand staircase, willing herself to wake up, swearing that she was in a dream.

"Hermione?" Harry asked, snapping her out of her reverie, "are you ok?"

"Y-Yes." she replied, bending down to pick up the books she had dropped on the stairs. When she stood back up, Harry was standing on the step beneath her. She dropped her books again.

"Oh Harry," she said, "do you mean it?"

"Yes." he replied, leaning in to kiss her.

Hermione closed her eyes and felt her heart pound in her chest. Even Ron hadn't kissed her like this. She realized that she had finally found the man of her dreams, and this thought made her sad. She'd always thought that Ron was the man she'd spend the rest of her life with, and she still felt that way. How could she be in love with two men at once, especially when those two men were best friends?

As Harry's hand brushed her cheek, he felt the tears that had fallen from her eyes, and pulled away.

"Hermione? What's wrong?" he asked tenderly.

"Nothing." she sobbed, shaking her head. She gathered her books up again. "I need to go back to the common room. I'll see you later Harry."

He stared after her.

"Why does she keep doing that?" he wondered.

The pain of rejection hit him hard. He didn't know what he had expected her reaction to be, but he surely hadn't expected her to run off. After a few moments, he went back to the common room and up to the boys' dormitories to change into his quidditch robes for the evening. He was thankful that Ron was nowhere around.

In the game against Hufflepuff that night, he almost lost the snitch because he was so busy daydreaming about Hermione. Somehow though, he managed to recover just in time to catch the snitch and win the game.

"What can be the matter with Hermione?" he kept wondering as he trudged back up to the castle. He went back to the boys' dormitory, changed into his pajamas, grabbed a towel, and wrapped the invisibility cloak around himself. As he was heading out the portrait hole for the Prefects' bathroom, he ran into Ron who was returning from the same location Harry was heading.

Harry made his way carefully through the hallways, dodging past Peeves when necessary, and keeping an eye out for Mrs. Norris. When he got to the bathroom, he gave the password that Ron had given him, and the door opened. He filled the tub with steaming hot water, and bubbles of varying shapes, sizes and scents. He removed his clothes and did a swan-dive into the water. His muscles were instantly relaxed. All the strain he had felt from the game was washed away in an instant. However, his thoughts still dwelled on Hermione. As he was doing laps up and down the swimming pool - sized bath, there was a knock at the door.

"Is anyone in there?" Hermione asked from the other side of the door.

"Just a moment." Harry answered, heading for a particularly bubble-filled corner of the tub. "Come in." he said when he was sufficiently hidden.

Hermione walked in wearing a scarlet silk dressing gown that fell to her ankles, and a pair of matching slippers. A golden-colored towel draped over her shoulder. Harry thought she looked stunning.

"I'm sorry to interrupt. I thought you'd be exhausted from the game. How did you get the password anyway? You're not a prefect." she said very quickly, her face starting to match the color of her robe.

"Ron gave it to me. He figured it was only fair."

For a few moments, they just stared at each other. Hermione realized that she'd never noticed that Harry was so muscular. She thought he looked incredible floating behind a wall of bubbles, and found herself wishing she could see what it was the bubbles were covering.

"You're more than welcome to join me if you wish. The bath is plenty large enough for two." Harry said, his voice echoing off the walls.

"That would be nice. Would you mind turning your head for a few moments?"

"N-not at all." Harry stammered, removing his eyes from her body.

He turned to face a row of sinks that stood against a wall about five feet away from the edge of the bath. Above each sink was a mirror, and it was into one of these that Harry looked while Hermione was undressing. He watched her set her towel down on the floor and remove her slippers. She blushed slightly as she untied her dressing gown, and as it hit the floor, Harry's heart skipped a beat. Hermione felt very self - conscious. As she removed her underclothes, he observed her body in the mirror. He had never seen something so beautiful in his entire life. Hermione was absolutely stunning. She was perfectly proportioned, and her bushy brown ponytail only added to her radiance. He heard the water splash slightly as she dove into the bath, and a few minutes later, she gave him permission to turn around. He did so, and found her hiding behind a wall of bubbles just like he was. Her hair was wet, and he was reminded of the Yule ball three years previous. Despite the steaming water, they both shivered.

"Congratulations on beating Hufflepuff. Everyone was saying that you were going to lose. You almost did a few times." Hermione said. "What was happening up there?"

"I dunno." Harry lied. "For some reason, I just couldn't concentrate."

All of a sudden, Malfoy came striding out of one of the toilet stalls.

"What have we here? Granger taking a bath with Potter? McGonagall is going to looooove this!" he cackled.

"Malfoy!" Hermione screamed.

"You wouldn't dare!" Harry growled.

Malfoy laughed evilly. As he was busy throwing Harry and Hermione's' clothes into the bath, Harry observed Pansy Parkinson trying to sneak out of the same stall Draco had just been in.

"Malfoy, if you tell McGonagall about this, I'll tell her that you were in here making out with Pansy."

Malfoy's face curled up in an evil sneer.

"You wouldn't dare" he seethed.

"Oh wouldn't I?" Harry replied coolly.

Before Malfoy could think of a reply, he was lifted up off the floor and thrown into Pansy's lap. Pansy in turn collapsed onto the floor.

Harry burst into laughter. He looked over and saw that Hermione was pointing her wand at the two Slytherins lying on the floor.

"You did that?" he said, holding his sides as they began to hurt from laughter.

"Yep." she smiled. "I practiced silent spells over the summer. Whenever I got angry at Ronald, I'd hurl a pillow across the room."

They both stopped laughing. Malfoy and Pansy took the opportunity to try to leave.

"Not so fast you two." Hermione said mischievously. She flicked her wand at them without saying a word. Whatever insult they had been planning for Harry and Hermione was stopped before it even emerged from their mouths. "That ought to keep you from saying anything for a while."

Malfoy sneered and stalked out of the room, Pansy in tow right behind him. When they were gone, Hermione turned to Harry. A sad look had crossed over his face. Hermione set her wand down on the floor beside her, plugged her nose, and sank under the water. Harry looked all around him, and started when she emerged from the water a few feet away from him.

"Sorry about before." she said.

"It's ok." Harry replied. "That was brilliant by the way."

"I couldn't very well have him running to McGonagall, could I?" she smiled brightly.

Harry shook his head and grinned.

"I think we'd better fetch our clothes and get out of here, just in case." Hermione said, indicating the middle of the bath.

"Good idea." Harry nodded.

They both plugged their noses and dove through the water. Secretly, Hermione swam slower than Harry so she could watch him. Doing so brought to mind the Triwizard Tournament. Although Harry was only supposed to save Ron, he had made a valiant attempt to save her also. He would have done so if Viktor hadn't swum along. She wondered if Harry had loved her then. When she saw him float to the surface, she grabbed hold of his pajama pants, which were floating down by her feet, and followed him. In his hands, he held her dressing gown and undergarments. Both of their faces flushed red, but strangely they were both turned on by this small realization. Hermione breathed deeply.

"If you'll spread everything out on the floor, I'll dry it with my wand." she said.

Harry obeyed. As Hermione swam away to get her wand, he stepped out of the bath and spread all of their clothes out on the floor.

"Rats." he said, his voice echoing once more. "My wand must've fallen out in the bath. Let me dive back in and I'll give you a hand."

As he was turning around to dive back into the water, he caught Hermione turning her head away from him. Apparently, she'd snuck a look at him when she'd thought he wasn't looking. He dove back in and retrieved his wand from the middle of the bath. When he surfaced, Hermione was sitting cross-legged on the bathroom floor, wrapped in her towel, and directing a stream of hot air from her wand onto her wet dressing gown. He got out of the tub, wrapped his towel around his waist, and walked over to her. As he bent over his pajama pants, Hermione watched the water dripping off of him. When their clothes were dry, both dressed, and neither blushed as their towels hit the floor.

"Hermione," Harry asked softly, draping his towel around his shoulders, "would you like to go somewhere else for a little while? Filch and Mrs. Norris could be by any second, and going back to the common room might be a bad idea if McGonagall's still awake. I'd hate for you to get into trouble."

"What about you?" she asked quietly. "Aren't you worried about getting into trouble?"

Harry shrugged. "What do I care? I do it all the time."

He walked over to one of the sinks and produced what looked like a bundle of liquid silver.

"Besides," he added, "we've got the invisibility cloak. We should be able to get through the halls pretty well without having to worry about anything."

"Where do you suggest we go?" Hermione asked, pulling the stopper on the bathtub.

"Anywhere we want." Harry replied with a smile.


End file.
